When you need dessert that’s more than an ice cream from the dairy but less than a Great Kiwi Bake Off technical challenge, make this. 

Sometimes it’s not necessary to labour things, and this recipe is a good example of that. Fried simply in butter and brown sugar, the pineapple turns a lovely golden colour, and finished with a good squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkling of mint leaves, makes the perfect accompaniment to ice cream – especially my banana ice cream from last week. 

FRIED PINEAPPLE WITH LIME AND MINT

Serves 4

• 1 pineapple
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 lime
• mint leaves to garnish
• ice cream or thick Greek yoghurt to serve

Peel and cut the eyes from the pineapple. Cut in quarters then remove the core before cutting each quarter into two.  

In a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat, melt the butter then add the sugar, stirring to combine.  

Add the pineapple wedges then fry until golden and starting to caramelise. Keep turning the pieces, making sure you brown all sides as you go. As I have a small frying pan, I do this in two batches, starting with 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the sugar, frying half the pineapple then repeating with the remaining butter, sugar and pineapple.  

Once all the pineapple is browned, squeeze over the lime juice, divide among four plates, pour over the syrup from the pan and scatter with mint before serving. Delicious served with a scoop of the banana ice cream recipe I shared here, or store-bought ice cream or thick Greek yoghurt.